Historic Preservation

JACL works to preserve the heritage and legacy of Japanese Americans and to ensure that the diverse experiences of the Asian American community are included in the American story.

JACL Opposes the Construction of a Solar Plant near Manzanar National Historic Site

Manzanar Shrine. Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

JACL encouraged members to speak out and sign an online petition on change.org in opposition to the plans of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to build a 1,200-acre solar plant near Manzanar National Historic Site, which would obstruct visitors’ views of the surrounding landscape and understanding of the isolation faced by the 11,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated in Manzanar during WWII. JACL also wrote a letter strongly opposing the proposal to the Inyo County Planning Department of California. JACL PSW and National also attended two Inyo County Planning Commission meetings to speak out against the solar ranch site, and to consider alternative ways of generating energy. As a result the solar ranch project is currently on hold.

JACL Supports the Funding of Tuna Canyon Detention Station

JACL wrote a letter in support of the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center’s grant application to fund the Tuna Canyon Detention Station (TCDS) Traveling Exhibit. The TCDS, located in Los Angeles city, detained 2,500 immigrants during WWII; approximately 1,490 were of Japanese descent. A traveling exhibit would bring the story of the TCDS to people who otherwise wouldn’t learn of it.

JACL Supports the Preservation of Historic Wintersburg Village

JACL wrote a letter of support for preserving the historic buildings of Wintersburg Village in Huntington Beach, CA, one of the few sites that conserves the story of the early Asian American immigrant experience. Wintersburg Village contains several intact structures built and owned by Japanese Americans and has the potential to be a learning center to share the history of the Japanese American community. In 2014 Wintersburg Village was designated as one of the most endangered historic sites in the United States by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Honouliuli, located in a gulch in central Oahu, was used during World War II to imprison Japanese community leaders and their families. The monument will preserve a forgotten but important part of American history about the treatment of thousands of Americans living in Hawaii.

Washington D.C. – Pending the President’s signature, over $2.9 million for Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) Grants have been approved for Fiscal Year 2015 with the passage of the 2015 Omnibus Appropriations Bill through Congress. The bill, which packages many of the smaller appropriations bills into a single larger bill,…

JACL wrote to Half Yard Productions company to dissuade them from filming an episode of their “Diggers” reality program at Rohwer in Arkansas, the site of a World War II Japanese American concentration camp. The reality program features hosts who prowl historic areas in search of artifacts and valuables. JACL…

Historic Wintersburg in Huntington Beach, California, has been selected as one of the 2014 America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Historic Wintersburg, which currently contains six extant pioneer structures and open farmland, is one of the only surviving Japanese-owned properties acquired in California…